After about 2 weeks of ignoring my day planner, I pulled it back out yesterday. And guess what? I have today and only today to gather test results from the Maryland school, fill out forms, and drop them off *somewhere* to get Zach a test time next week for the "Challenge" (gift and talented) class at our new school.
Yay, I get to be "that mom" trying to weasel her darling child into the special classes. I hate being "that mom". But I know Zach really needs it and his Maryland GT teacher practically made me swear on my life that I would get him into the program here in Indiana. And as I was apologizing to the director of the county wide program on the phone this morning, I mentioned that I have 4 other children and really I wouldn't be doing all this if Zach didn't need it. So either I'm sorry I have a very smart kid or 4 normal average ones. (Technically we don't know about Kyle or Kelly yet, the program doesn't start until 3rd grade.)
I guess I wanted to make the point that I'm not one of those crazy parents hung up on what I selfishly feel my kids should be doing in school. (Hang on while I get my soap box.) I was "that smart kid" in grade school, bored to tears while I waited for the rest of the class to figure out the multiplication tables while I was already doing long division in my head. The GT classes were a life saver for me. And Zach's like me. He was so bored in 1st grade that his teacher sent him to a 3rd grade class for reading and math.
I'm a firm believer in making sure the kids get an education in the way they need it. Zach needs a challenge. Ally is great at grade level. She actually did test for GT last year but didn't have the scores to get into the program. Even if she had, I'd be hesitant for her. The extra "challenge" might have been too stressful for her. Emily goes the other way and we had her seeing a reading specialist. She's doing better but still struggles a bit. I think one of her issues is she has a mean perfectionist streak. If she's not going to be able to read it perfectly the first time through, she won't try. She doesn't like to make mistakes and the majority of learning is making mistakes and moving on. We're working on it.
It's just... (Dude, the view from this soapbox is cool. And I am short.) I don't like feeling like "that mom". I mean if I really wanted to be "that mom", I'd have pushed for Zach to be on the travel hockey team. He did the try-outs and didn't make the team. Maybe next year. I wouldn't want to bring the team down by forcing a player on them that wasn't of the same caliber. Or make Zach miserable because he'd always be on the bench since he wasn't really at that level of play. He can be an average hockey player and I'm good with that.
And honestly? I am lazy. Do you really think I want to spend today on the phone arranging faxes and filling out forms and driving all over God's green earth to get Zach into the challenge class for my pride? Although I am beginning to wonder about all the GT classes I took back in the day. At least one of them should have taught me about deadlines and checking a calendar more often than once a month.
Ha! I'm still a size 8* jean at the Gap! Okay so it's a tight size 8 and I do have a bit of a muffin top (ugh) but with all the cool sort of flowing tunic type tops I also bought (that don't make me look pregnant, I'm very picky on that point), no one will ever notice. I promise to do like a hundred crunches every day. Except I kinda skipped yesterday. Starting today, honest! And ignore that I'm on my second Mountain Dew of the day...
And to prove the point of why I bring another person along, Sarah was so awesome at Macy's. She handed me every top that looked decent from the sales rack and off we went to the dressing room. The $80 shirt that was cute but not cute enough for even the marked down price of $40? Ended up being $12. The "wow this is different but I like it" shirt originally $70 (marked down to $27) was $10. The price scanner is your friend. Too bad the $90 purse (in mystic ocean blue) I liked was... Still $90 (didn't buy it). Can't win them all, I suppose.
* Right, I get it's just a number. But I would have been so crushed if I had to wear size 10 jeans. And granted I *probably* am a 10 in other brands but we ladies (especially moms) need our fantasies. For now, mine is single digit jeans. And Brad Pitt.
I'm having a perfect storm of today not being a good day to go clothes shopping.
And today is like the only day my sister is free and Greg's in town and lord knows I can't go shopping by myself or with 5 children because either way I end up with no clothes. Which of course is not the expected outcome when you go clothes shopping.
Onto the lovely trio that makes up today's perfect storm:
1. I have poison ivy. Granted it's only a few spots, the insides of both my wrists, my stomach (because I sleep with my arms on my stomach "like a dead person" thanks Sarah), and my lip. I have a spot on my lip. So attractive. I feel like telling everyone I meet, "it's poison ivy! I do not have herpes!"
2. "That time of the month" is soon. (Like probably tomorrow.) Which means I'm bloated. So trying on clothes will make me feel like a water buffalo in a size 2 tutu.
3. Those
But I will still go clothes shopping tonight mostly because I'm tired of Greg referring to my "uniform." Which consists of layered Gap tank tops and Target jeans or Eddie Bauer capris. Like how I dropped those label names? Cause I'm so high fashioned like that.
Also? I'm putting band aids on my poison ivy so don't fear buying clothes in the greater Indianapolis area. Now if only there was a quick fix to drop
I picked up a poison ivy rash from somewhere over the weekend. I really don't think we have any in our yard here although we did do a bit of weed pulling/shrub pruning on Saturday. I noticed a few spots on the insides of both wrists yesterday. And since I'm like two years old I've been scratching the spots and now they are spreading a little up my arm and then I touched my face and now I'm freaking out that I'm going to have it there. Let's not talk about one of Zach's birthday parties (I think his second?) where my eye was nearly swollen shut because of poison ivy on my face.
I guess I'm going to have to find a physician for me sooner than later because usually the only way for this to clear up (so itchy!) is a round of steroids. Guess I'm losing my place on the Olympic team this summer then...
Today's going to be one of those crappy errand running days. I need to drop off forms and checks at a few different places, make returns, and buy something (hmm, I wish I remembered what the something was. Oh well it'll come to me eventually).
I've been trying to do better with the kids' summer fun stuff. There's just so much other random crap that needs to be done that even I'm not getting any summer fun stuff for me. We've been to the sprinkler park twice, visited the children's museum, eaten at a local ice cream place, biked to the school's playground, visited the Cincinnati Zoo, and made root beer floats. I haven't been to any of the local yarn shops yet. (The sound you hear is the world's smallest violin playing for me, ha.)
There's only 18 days of summer left for the kids. I go back and forth on my feelings of Indiana's early school starting day. Although I think I'll like crappy errand running days a bit better when I'm the only one whining about them.
Hi all!
I'm still in that weird transient place where Indiana is starting to feel like home but then again the garage is full of boxes and I occasionally get lost in the grocery store.
We had my sister Sarah and one of Greg's co-workers over for dinner last night (I just have to add that I love company, seriously, come to my house) and so I spent the whole day cleaning and shopping and then Greg saved dinner by pulling the steaks off the grill "early" so they were actually medium-rare. I often um, get distracted and the steaks usually end up medium to well done. The kids were rather concerned that their food was pink last night.
But anyway the point was the co-worker was surprised at how many neighbors we've met already in a little over a month. People are friendly here, it's very nice. In Maryland, I knew only 5 families in the whole neighborhood (3 years!) and two were due to Girl Scouts. Here I can name every single family around us (first names at least) and their dogs. Because it's all about knowing the dogs. Brownies help too. And also the fact that my children keep running into other people's yards and I feel I really should introduce ourselves then.
It's good to be home.
Emily and Ally's latest talent:
Singing "Mary had a Little Lamb" but replacing all the first letters of each word with a different letter of the alphabet.
(Kary had a Kittle Kamb, Kittle Kamb...)
Except then they realized they probably shouldn't use the letter "D".
This morning I met another of the neighbors. She brought over brownies.
We've also received brownies from four other neighbors. And a plate of cookies.
There's a house down the street for sale. So I have a box of brownie mix in the pantry all ready to go.
Fa la la la la la la la...
In a better mood now, thanks!
I stepped away from the sewing machine last night and took a long bath (although I didn't have any bubbles) and read a book.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Ahem...
Today went pretty well, the kids picked Waffle House for lunch (please tell me I'm not the only person who doesn't like the House of Waffles, blech). I did finish my list of errands and I think that contributes to about 75% of my good mood now.* Not that the errand running went as smoothly as I would have wished. I'd like to apologize to the nice cashier at Staples who cheerfully greeted us and then was probably a bit shocked when I turned around and walked back out after Zach and Kyle got into a kicking and fist fight ten feet into the store.** I then later made the mistake of letting Kyle pick out a dye/chemical filled candy*** at Target and he was a bit off the wall at the fabric store.
But we have school supplies and toilet paper and thread so life is all good.
* The other 25%? I may be a tad bi-polar.
** We didn't go back into Staples, instead we went home and the boys got a nice long hour time out in their room.
*** I've never had him tested and I'm just going on my personal observations but Kyle "acts up" more after eating anything high in food dyes and artificial flavors. Sometimes I forget this and then we all kinda pay for it.
Natural and low processed foods are our friends.
(So are baths and fluff novels that can be read in one setting.)
Being a parent just sucks sometimes.
There are some bloggers I read that are always so upbeat about their children. They homeschool, they entertain the kids while doing amazing projects of their own, they revel in each day and delightful thing their children do. Sibling rivalry is unheard of and each meal is a gourmet delight that their children eat with gusto.
Bah Humbug.
Maybe I'm just overwhelmed with the move still. Maybe it's because Greg's out of town this week. Maybe it's summer break and it's a kid's prerogative to make their parents insane.
Yesterday I bought new (expensive) bikes helmets for the kids. This morning I found 4 of the 5 (go Kyle!) in the front yard along with Zach's bike and Kelly's scooter.
The kids have been sneaking food from the kitchen and leaving it all over the house. I found Cheerios on the stairs, crunched corn chips on the dining room floor, and a gogurt wrapper in the living room.
Kyle had a bloody nose yesterday. I hate cleaning blood out of carpet.
Currently there are 4 blankets, 3 stuffed animals, 1 t-shirt, and 7 pillows on the family room floor.
The kids' definition of emptying and reloading the dishwasher is forgetting two clean pans in it (and therefore making them dirty again by putting cereal bowls in the rack above them), setting the clean plates on the counter under the cabinet they belong in, and leaving a dirty pot on the stove and dirty spoons and knives in the sink.
I'm tired of answering "what's for < insert meal >?" twenty times a day. The answer is going to be something they probably don't like anyways and no, we don't have any more < insert fruit/granola bar/popscicle > because someone ate all of them without asking. I'm thinking about installing a hidden camera in the kitchen.
I still don't want to go to the pool. I'm like the Scrooge of summer fun.
I keep putting off errands because the kids have reverted to 2 year old behavior and I can't take them to more than one place each day. I thought about hiring a babysitter (although she wasn't available today) but then I realized the money I might save by hitting a few different stores (for groceries, toiletries, school supplies, clothing, craft supplies) would be negated by the $40 babysitting fee. We went grocery shopping this morning and I bought about half the school supplies online this morning. I'm not sure how I'm going to buy everything else and it gives me a headache thinking about it.
I miss writing fiction. All I seem to do is clean, sew, and break up fights.
I'm not one to usually whine about stuff like this but I'm kinda feel bogged down by it all and the "answer" to fixing it all doesn't seem very obvious at the moment.
Unless the answer is a maid, chef, personal shopper, and pool loving nanny.
In case anyone is bored and would like some fun activities to do with the kids, here's a feature I wrote up back in 06: 50 Days of Summer.
Me? I want every day to be PJ Day.
I think I suck at summer blogging. I remember back when I was big into forum reading, there was one frequent poster who took the summer off completely from the internet. Crazy, huh? But at the moment, that's what is accidentally happening here.
Saturday we went to the Children's Museum with my parents and sister and then I grilled dinner in a thunderstorm with hail (okay so I stepped inside while it was actually hailing but the hamburgers were still on the grill).
Sunday I tried to catch up on laundry and general housework and then I helped my other sister make centerpieces and decorations for a bridal shower she's throwing for one of her best friends.
Today the kids and I ran 4 errands before lunch time and I've spent the afternoon going through paperwork and sewing. I need a new filing cabinet, bookshelf and chair for my office/craft room. Too bad all my money is tied up in fabric for the Stitches show in August. I'm at 96 items sewn out of 500, I'm rather behind. And I'm trying not to think about the 5 gallons of paint sitting in the garage that's suppose to be on the walls inside the house.
Oh! Greg and I bought bikes together over the weekend as our 10th wedding anniversary gifts to each other. That's some pretty exciting news.
And now it's time to make dinner and I haven't even had a chance to write out today's To Do list. I was too busy doing it. I think I need to look up the definition of "Summer Break" again...
There are never enough hours in the day.
Yesterday we did go to a local sprinkler park and the kids had a blast. And got sunburned. Oops...
Today we registered at their new school and for the most part, they are excited. I'm not so thrilled about the high "book rental" fees ($130+ per kid, I'm used to $150 total for 5 in Maryland) plus each grade has a supply list of 20+ items per child. The school secretary blames the lower taxes we pay. I understand sending in a box of tissues but dry erase markers and disinfecting wipes shouldn't be our responsibility. I suppose it all works out in the end.
So continuing in the registering theme, I also contacted local scout coordinators, called about fall soccer, and figured out the religion classes. School, scouts, sports, and religion, I think that's everything my kids are suppose to be involved in at the moment.
Next up, dentists and doctors... But that's on hold until Monday because I've reached my "fill out forms/make phone calls" quota for the day (aka my hand is cramping and I'm tired of talking to people).
Whose great idea was it to move into a subdivision with a community pool?
Oh yeah, mine...
See I thought it would be better to have a community pool that is sort of free (we'd be paying HOA fees anyways, I dare you to find a neighborhood around Indy that doesn't have them) than pay for a pool membership somewhere else that we'd never use. Like one year the twins asked for a pool party at the Y for their birthday. Greg and I figured that party cost like $1000 because in all the months we paid for the Y membership, we used it that one time (okay it wasn't quite that bad but it was close).
So back to the community pool. I've just realized I'm not a pool person. I never have been really. I don't like being in the pool water (we'll just ignore the whole "me in a swimsuit" issue for a moment) and sitting in an uncomfortable chair on concrete in the sun watching the kids play in the pool doesn't sound like much fun either. Especially when I have nine hundred and four things to do in the house. Like sewing. I can't sew at the pool. Or paint walls. Or mindlessly read blogs on my laptop (no community pool wifi, you'd think with the $$$ yearly fee they'd at least have internet at the pool).
Also? I don't want to blind anyone with my ghost white legs. If they hadn't already keeled over by my dimply thighs. The white legs I'm used to but I don't know when the cottage cheese skin thing happened and I'm not very happy about it. It would be kinda weird to wear jeans to the pool too.
Like the wonderful mother I am, I've put off going to the pool when the kids ask with lots of awesome excuses. The biggest and easiest one was we had boxes in the house to unpack. Drat, we took care of those over the weekend. Monday I desperately needed a day of sewing because it was beginning to look like I'd be at the Stitches show with 25 items on the single small table in a 10x10 foot booth (my goal is 500 by August 21st, I now have 82 pieces made). Yesterday I needed to run errands and I pacified the kids with ice cream. Today, I'm suppose to paint and strip wallpaper. Tomorrow... I'm running out of excuses. And the mommy guilt is beginning to set in because we only have a little over a month before school starts and we really haven't done very many summer activities.
I suppose this means I really need to take the kids to the pool sometime this week... *whine, curse, gripe, moan*
Today is one of those crappy To Do list days. And I kinda forgot Greg was going out of town this week so I'll have to take all the kids with me on the boring errand running parts. Yeah, I know how babysitters work, I'd rather spend $40 on new linens and suffer with whiny "I don't wanna shop" children. My sanity versus new kitchen towels, lol.
Yesterday we went to our new local library (new to us, that is) for almost two hours. I finally let the kids each have their own library cards. I've always used my card for checking out everyone's books because it's easier to keep track of one account and one card. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the butt (i.e. lost cards, keeping up with late fees on 6 different accounts). Funny thing is yesterday my card was the only one not used.
I'm going to be painting again during the next few days so get ready for this to morph into a "before and after" home improvement blog again. Cause that might be such a shock from the usual rambling nonsense. When can this become an exotic travel blog with nannies and maids? Oh right, that lottery ticket that I never buy...
Let's see, the last few days have gone something like this:
Thursday, my aunt and uncle were in town from Michigan so we had a lovely lunch and dinner with them. Sarah popped in for dinner as well. They all left and then another aunt and uncle and their 4 kids stopped by for late night pizza and catching up.
Friday (4th of July), we had over Steph, her husband and kids, the husband's best friend and girlfriend, and a new neighbor couple and their 2 young boys. (The almost 2 year old boy? I could eat him up with a spoon, he is sooooo cute!)
Saturday my in-laws came up from Cincinnati and made Greg and I unpack/move the remaining boxes. Good news, no more boxes in the house! (Except for those two little ones I hid in my office/craft room because I was really tired of unpacking, shhh...)
Sunday my in-laws hung lots of pictures and put stuff on shelves and our house looks like a home now. (Thanks!) Then we had a cook out with Steph and her kids and Matt and Nay.
No joke, we have had more people visit us here in our new house in 3 weeks than we had the entire time (3 years) in Maryland. It's been very cool, don't get me wrong. But also? A wee bit tiring. If I'm a tad antisocial for a few days, please forgive me. I'm just not used to having conversations with adults so often.
Happy 4th of July!
Today's plans are to sew and hopefully see a local fireworks show if it isn't rained out. An exciting way to spend the birthday of the country, I know... What are you doing today?
Okay so yesterday the kids and I went to the Cincinnati Zoo with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Of all the zoos in the county, it's the one I know best probably because I was a biology major at a college in Cincinnati and we were required to go the zoo at least once a semester. And also both sides of my family like to go to the Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights at Christmas time and freeze. I mean, see the lights.
Today I'm playing catch up with the bill paying, LLC forming, laundry, cleaning, sewing, um, everything. In preparation for the Stitches Midwest show in August, I've set a goal of sewing 10 items a day in July. I'm already 10 behind and if I don't get my act together today, it'll be 20 behind tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting month...
Will try to upload zoo pictures to my flickr account later. Oh and a huge thank you to everyone still reading and hopefully you'll be around at the end of July as I'm afraid most of this month will be "argh, must sew!" and "argh, the kids driving me nuts and not letting me sew!" I'm sure I'll sneak in at least a few more "before and afters" on different rooms in the house (my craft room is almost finished) so stick around for that.
Argh, must sew!
...
(July 2nd: Cause I forgot to post yesterday and I'm afraid with my current blog archiving system that the entire thing will implode if I don't post something on the 1st of every month.)
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